Vacuum-clamping buck



' June 21, 1966 H. v. HOISVE ETAL VACUUM-CLAMPING BUCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 1, 1964 INVENTOR. HAROLD K #015 V6 BY JO? 1. STE/K5 Q WN ATTORNEY June 21, 1966 v. HolsvE ETAL 3,257,047

VACUUM-CLAMPING BUCK Filed June 1, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS HAKOLD 1 HO/SYE Y JOHN L. STRIKE 6. J/Em United States Patent 3,257,047 VACUUM-CLAMPING BUCK Harold V. Hoisve and John L. Strike, both of Salt Lake City, Utah, assignors to McGraw-Edison Company, Elgin, 11]., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 1, 1964, Ser. No. 371,533 3 Claims. (Cl. 22357) This invention relates to a buck on which a garment is adapted to be draped preparatory to moving the buck from dressingto pressing position, and has for an object to provide means to apply garment-retaining suction to the buck while the same is disposed at both positions and between said positions, as well.

Bucks of this nature, with or without means to expand the garment thereon to obviate formation of wrinkles, regardless of the.type of expanders used, are usually provided with mechanical clamp means to hold the garment in place after the samehas been dressed in a particular manner by the operator. Open-front garments, such as shirts and coats, are expanded as the press heads are being closed.

The common type of mechanical clamping device is ordinarily located so it will not interfere with said press heads, the same, therefore, clamping the lower portions of the garment. Since shirt-pressing bucks are provided with collar clamps, a coat would be clamped only at its lower part and a shirt at the collar and the lower part.

Since the front button and buttonhole edges of a garrnent thus clamped would not be held against spreading or bowing between the clamped points, as the garment is expanded, the finished appearance of the garment has an undesirable curvature at said edges, which also adds to the diificulty of folding the same properly. Also, mechanical clamping devices will leave unsightly creases in the garment, especially undesirable in top outer garments, sport shirts, skirts, and the like, in which such creases are exposed when the garments are worn. Further, due to the practical difficulties of straightening the buttonand buttonhole-provided edges and then holding the same While a mechanical clamp is applied, the time for properly arranging a garment on a buck is longer than it should be. Such clamps are particularly impractical for clamping long garments, such as long dresses and coats.

The present invention seeks to overcome the aboveenumerated faults of clamping a garment on a buck at only one place or at two vertically spaced places, and another object of the invention is to provide means applied to the entire length of the front edges or strips of the portion of agarment that is arranged on a buck preparatory to pressing the same, to hold the garment in a manner to obviate spreading of the front edges.

In order to press garments of this general type and with such special features as pocket flaps, odd-shaped collars, belts, frills, and dress trims, it is usually necessary to use a plurality of clamps, which require an excessive expenditure of time to apply.

A further object of the invention, therefore, is to provide means, as characterized above, that applies its force to retain the vertical edges of a shirt-type garment and the like in a manner that holds the edges for the full length of the buck and also holds material lateral portions of the garment spaced from said edges.

This invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The above objects of the invention are realized in a buck structure in which vacuum is applied to the buck 3,257,047 Patented June 21, 1966 "ice from within to so,tightly draw the front edges of a garment (also, rear edges, in back-connecting garments) against the buck surface that the same resists the pull of expanders and keeps said edges in their dressed position during movement of the buck to pressing position and during pressing of the garment; The present means employs extensible conduit means connecting the buck at all times to a blower which applies the suction to the buck.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description and which is based on the accompanying drawings. However, said drawings merely show, and the following description merely describes, one embodiment of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawings, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a plan view, with much of the structural details omitted, of one form of shirt-pressing machine provided with the vacuum-clamping buck of the present invention, the buck being shown in full lines at its dressing station and in dot-dash lines at its pressing station.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing the vacuum conduit means in the position thereof with the buck in pressing position.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view, partly broken away, of a buck according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view as taken on the line 44 of FIG. 3.

The pressing machine 5 that is shown in FIG. 1 is intended as exemplary of machines adapted to employ the present vacuum-clamping buck. The same, conventionally, has a dressing station 6; a pressing station 7 horizontally spaced from the station 6; a single buck-mounted carriage 8, or two such carriages in double buck machines; means (not illustrated) for moving said carriage on rails 9 back and forth between said stations; a pair of press heads 10 at the pressing station, one on each side of the buck 11 on the carriage; and conventional means 12 comprising a source of stream or heated air that enters a tube 13 on thecarriage 8 when the latter is in pressing position, to supply the buck 11 with pressing air that, thereby, is applied to the inside of a garment dressed on the buck while the press heads engage the outside of the garment.

The buck .1 1 that is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 is shown with air bags .14 at the side edges of the buck, the same serving as means to laterally expand a garment dressed on the buck and apply inside pressing heat to said garment. These bags 14 receive their expanding and heating air from the tube 13 when the carriage 8 nears and is at the pressing station. Said bags 14, as shown in both FIGS. 3 and 4, are attached to the edges of the buck 11, the m-anner'of attachment being immaterial so long as the bags constitute lateral air-expandable extensions of the buck 11. The bags 14 are exemplary of garment expanders generally, as is the yoke bag 15 which is shown as receiving pressing air by way of an inlet 16 that is mounted on a collar clamp .17 which, per se, forms no part of this invention.

The foregoing constitutes an exemplary environment for the present vacuum-clamping means which comprises, generally, a suction-producing machine 20, an extensible conduit 21 connected, at one end, to said machine 20, and means 22 incorporated in the buck 1x1 and subject to suction in'said conduit, to apply suction to portions 23 of a garment 24 dressed on the buck.

The machine 20 advantageously comprises a blower 25 driven in the usual way by a motor 26, a three-way valve 27 adapted for control by the operator of the pressing machine, a suction line 28 between said blower and a first port of said valve,an inlet filter 29 connected to a second port of said valve, and a suction tube 30 connected to the third port of said valve. Depending on the adjustment of the valve 27 by actuation of the shaft 31 thereof, the suction generated by the blower is applied either to the tube 30, or applied to atmosphere through the filter 29. In the latter case, the suction in the tube 30 is released.

The extensible conduit 21 comprises the mentioned tube 30, which extends in parallelism to the rails 9, i.e., the path of movement of the carriage 8, a larger tube 32 loosely telescopically engaged with tube 30, a sealing flange '33 on the end of the tube 30 and engaged with the inner face of the .tube 32, a sealing and/r guide flange 34 on the end of tube 32 and engaged with the outer face of the tube 30, and an elbow fitting 35 on the end of tube 32 opposite to the flange 34.

The tubes 39 and 32 are so proportioned that, when the carriage 8 is at the dressing station, the same are engaged only by their end portions, as in FIG. 1, and when the carriage is at the pressing station, these tubes are in substantially coextensive engagement, as in FIG. 2. Hence, the tubes and 32 are connected at all times and the elbow fitting is subject to suction thereon when the valve 27 is set to connect the same to the blower.

As shown in FIG. 4, the rear portion of the buck, from the outside inwardly, comprises a porous but thin cloth cover 36, a layer of flannel 37 beneath said cover, and a layer of metal mesh 38 beneath said flannel layer. This portion of the buck 11 is of conventional construction, and is backed on the inside by a plate 39. The elbow fitting 35 is secured to said plate, which is formed with a hole 40 in register with said fitting. It will be noted that the connection between the elbow fitting and the buck is located at the side of the buck farthest from the pressing station, to provide maximum space between the buck and the blower for the extensible conduit 21.

The means 22 includes the mentioned rear plate 39 and further comprises, from the outside inwardly, a front cloth cover 41, a flannel layer 42 there-beneath, a layer of metal mesh 43 beneath the flannel layer, a spring pad 44 beneath the mesh layer, and an orifice plate 45, spaced from the plate 39 by a spacing frame 46, to define a vacuum cavity 47.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the plate is provided with a plurality of holes 48 which are arranged in a grouping or pattern which may vary but, as shown, is preferably of triangular arrangement, wider at the bottom than at the top. As can be seen from the right portion of this figure, the edge portions 23 of a shirt or other garment 24. are in overlying relation to the holes 48. Since the described layers 41 and 44 overlying the orifice plate 45 are all porous, such garment portions 23 will be drawn :by suction in the vacuum cavity 47 so tightly against the cover 41 that said portions will strongly resist the lateral pull exerted on the garment by the expander bags 14. So long as the suction, by selected position of valve 27, is applied to the cavity 47, the garment will retain said position.

It will be realized that the force of suction applied will be effective not only on the garment edge portions 23, but the holes 48 may be arranged in a pattern or patterns that would locate some of them behind pockets, particularly those with flaps, and other loosely connected garment portions. Thus, by application of suction only to the inside of the buck, the portions of a garment on the 'buck that are desired to be held in proper. position when expanded and pressed, are firmly held in place, as above described.

Since the operator has control of the time when suction is desired, the dressing of the buck may be conveniently carried out and, at the instant that the desired arrangement of the garment is obtained, the valve 27 may be actuated to open the buck to suction with assurance that the garment will not become disarnanged during travel toward and while at the pressing station.

While the foregoing has illustrated and described what is now contemplated to be the best mode of carrying out the invention, the construction is, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it is not desired to restrict the invention to the particular form of construction illustrated and described, but to cover all modifications that may fall .within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the-invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A garment buck comprising:

(a) two outer porous sides with a hollow therebetween,

(b) an impervious backing plate lining one of said sides to prevent air flow therethrough,

(c) an orifice plate lining the inside of the other porous side of the buck, and

(d) a suction connection extending through said backing plate and the buck side lined there-by and opening into said hollow to subject the side with the orifice plate to suction for drawing portions of a garment dressed on the buck firmly against the side that is lined by the orifice plate.

2. A garment buck according to claim 1 in which the buck has opposite side edges and is provided with garment-expanding means disposed along and connected to said opposite side edges of the buck, the suction effective on the garment retaining the same in dressed position against the opposite lateral pull by expanding means on the garment.

3. In combination:

(a) a hollow buck adapted to be dressed with a garment and movable between dressing and pressing positions, said buck having, on opposite sides of its hollow, a porous layer provided with an inner solid plate, and an orifice-provided porous layer, and

( b) means connected to the buck by means of said plate to produce suction in the hollow of the buck and effective through said orifice-provided side to draw portions of a garment dressed on the buck firmly against the porous layer of said side,

(c) orifice-provided buck side being provided with a porous outer layer and an inner plate resiliently spaced from said plate and having orifices communicating the buck hollow with the pores of said layer,

((1) the orifices being arranged in a pattern occupying areas of the plate that are superposed by portions of the outer layer adapted to be covered by portions of said dressed garment to render said suction in the buck hollow effective on said garment portions.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,536,637 5/1925 Thurnauer 38-16 X 2,385,425 9/1945 Slezak 285-302 2,562,956 8/ 1951 Shaw 233- 2,667,291 1/1954 Petrich 233-70 2,788,162 4/1957 Hitz 233-57 2,898,020 8/1959 Kannegiesser et a1. 233-70 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

G. V. LARKI'N, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A GARMENT BUCK COMPRISING: (A) TWO OUTER POROUS SIDES WITH A HOLLOW THEREBETWEEN, (B) AN IMPERVIOUS BACKING PLATE LINING ONE OF SAID SIDES TO PREVENT AIR FLOW THERETHROUGH, (C) AN ORIFICE PLATE LINING THE INSIDE OF THE OTHER POROUS SIDE OF THE BUCK, AND (D) A SUCTION CONNECTION EXTENDING THROUGH SAID BACKING PLATE AND THE BUCK SIDE LINED THEREBY AND OPENING INTO SAID HOLLOW TO SUBJECT THE SIDE WITH THE ORIFICE PLATE TO SUCTION FOR DRAWING PORTIONS OF A GARMENT DRESSED ON THE BUCK FIRMLY AGAINST THE SIDE THAT IS LINED BY THE ORIFICE PLATE. 